Report on Data breaches in the UK

In the wake of massive data breaches at businesses, educational institutions and medical facilities, consumers are modifying their purchasing behaviour, including online buying, out of concern for the security of their personal information, according to the 2007 Consumer Survey on Data Security.

The survey from Vontu, a Data Loss Prevention solutions firm, and the Ponemon Institute, a privacy and information management researcher, found that 62% of respondents have been notified that their confidential data has been lost.

Google lets subjects of news stories comment on articles about them

This really looks like an interesting development. Lauren on his blog has some input on this considering it has been something that he has been one of his ‘pet subjects’ for some time now. The only thing is that the process they are using now does not look scalable. I guess if the trial is a success, this will be an evolution for the future….

Google this week introduced an experimental feature on its Google News Web site in the United States to allow any person mentioned in a news report that is linked there to submit a written response.

A Google employee then must verify the authenticity of the e-mail response. Methods include independently tracking down the subject’s contact information and calling that person directly, or checking the author’s e-mail address and phone number against information on a company or organization Web site.

Where to draw the line?

I found this on Laurens blog.

‘That appears to be essentially the plan of some legislators in California, who are pushing for a law making it illegal to display photos of young children on the Internet “without permission.” Note that the idea isn’t just to prohibit pornographic photos, or naked photos, but all photos of “toddlers” — including fully clothed in completely public settings.’

This seems quite ridiculous to me living in a society with a very open culture. Although I do understand that the culture in the US, and clearly in California is somewhat reserved. I try to understand this… but still it does seem a little over the top… next it will be illegal to take pictures of children… or an indication of guilt of pedophile tendencies….. please let’s not take this route…

How do you get a password out of an IRS agent? Just ask:

lol, look what I found on Bruce Schneier’s blog!

Sixty-one of the 102 people who got the test calls, including managers and a contractor, complied with a request that the employee provide his or her user name and temporarily change his or her password to one the caller suggested, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an office that does oversight of Internal Revenue Service.